Newbie in Bay Area (California) -- specifically Oakland

[Solomon Young]

Hi All, my name is Solomon. I currently work full-time -- your standard 40 hours/week "9-5" (well 7:30-4pm to be exact).  After reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, I'm determined in setting myself up for a good future by having "money work for me" rather than continue to work for money. My end goal is to have a few rental properties (paid off when I retire). I'm interested in learning about real estate investing, buying/holding, flipping houses, multifamily units, etc. I'm definitely a hands on learner so if anyone in the area is looking for any assistance in above, I'd be more than happy to help in any way possible.

Thank you all for your contributions -- I hope to learn a lot from the BP community.

[J. Martin]

Welcome @Solomon Young!

BP is definitely the place to be!! I invest in Oakland and Richmond and own properties in West Oakland, East Oakland, Richmond, and have furnished rentals by Lake Merritt (a place I extra love!) and North Oakland near Temescal. So I'm pretty familiar with the Oakland area if you want to tag me on the forums (send a colleague request..)

I used to work the 9-5 just like you, until I quit a couple months ago, and am now traveling around the country, enjoying life, managing my RE & furnished rental business, and getting lots of real estate investors to network together, make more money, and have a blast!! :)

You can definitely do it if you work hard at it. And there is so much opportunity in the Bay Area, in so many different ways, that you have potential at your fingertips.. Just go do it!!! ;)

Hopefully meet you in August at the big event after I get back from some travels. Check out all the local REIA / meetup events, and talk to @Johnson H. about the SF meetup and @Juan Diaz about his Oakland meetup... 

Good luck Solomon! :)